Application Procedures and Guidelines

All applications are evaluated on the basis of merit and the need for financial assistance. The purpose of the Geiss Award is to support authors and publishers and academic presses in publishing books about China’s Ming dynasty (1368 – 1644).

Priority consideration will be given to applications that (1) help publish the work of a first-time author; and/or (2) enhance visual components through digitization or adding color plates to otherwise black-and-white illustrations.

Applicants with eligible subject matter are welcome to apply. Qualified individuals may apply but awards are made directly to the applicant’s press. Academic presses or publishers with not-for-profit tax status under US Internal Revenue Service are preferred. Unless otherwise announced, applications submitted by email to applications@geissfoundation.us before 1 September are reviewed and will be announced in December of the same year. Please note that Subventions Awards will no longer be awarded twice a year.

Application forms can be found here. Each Geiss Award may range between $3,500 to $4,500. Applications from publishers or individuals that are received by 1 September of each year will be reviewed, and awards for the following year will be announced in December of the application year.

– a summary of the proposed book’s importance in Ming studies; – the amount of money being requested;

(2) An abstract and a sample section of no less than 25 pages of the proposed book. Representative illustrations, if applicable, should also be submitted.

(3) Reader reports of the proposed book already submitted to the publisher.

Geiss Award is meant to supplement the publisher in the total cost of the production but the publisher or other sources shall meet a major portion of productions costs; it is not intended nor does it include overhead costs to a parent organization, like a university.